What WLC is good and cheap?

[deanwebb]

I'm willing to sacrifice fast, this is for my home lab.

Specifically, since I'm setting it up to do work with ForeScout CounterACT(TM) NAC, I'd like it to be either a Cisco Aironet WLC or an Aruba WLC.

Any recommendations on model numbers and prices? Are the switches that come with a WLC built-in compatible with Aironet commands?

[dlots]

Sorry, my wireless skills are weak.

[deanwebb]

Sorry, my wireless skills are weak.

That's OK. One who knows will arrive. I have faith in that.

[SimonV]

Cisco 2106 WLC but that's been EoL for a while now, stops at the first 8.x releases.
I'm sure there will be an influx of 2504s soon when the new 3504 starts shipping.

[icecream-guy]

Cisco 2106 WLC but that's been EoL for a while now, stops at the first 8.x releases.
I'm sure there will be an influx of 2504s soon when the new 3504 starts shipping.

I was gonna say there was a bunch of router LAN modules out there on ebay... probably won't do today's work.

[42istheanswer]

@SimonV How did you get 8.x code on a Cisco 2100 WLC? The site says it stops at AIR-WLC2100-K9-7-0-252-0-ER??
I have a 2106 with 4 APs meshed out but only 2 active on the B/G and it seems to work OK.

[Dieselboy]

Get the new 1830 or 1850 AP which has an integrated WLC which allows you to manage up to 25 APs (including itself) in total. If you do get a full WLC later on, then you can join the ap's to that instead.

I also saw on the cisco site they have another new AP with this capability:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/wap581-wireless-ac-n-dual-radio-wave-2-access-point-2-5gbe-lan/index.html?wcmmode=disabled

Bear in mind you need multiple gigabit Ethernet ports to get the full speed of the radios now as they are MIMO and can get over a gigabit throughput. I have my 1830 connected into my old 3560- 8 port POE switch which is 100M  (it's all I have at home).

Just logged into a big $vendor wholesale web account and the 1832's are about $500 each.

if you do go down that route, get the latest code on them because cisco released to market to be the first wave 2 and the code was sort of usable.

[SimonV]

@SimonV How did you get 8.x code on a Cisco 2100 WLC? The site says it stops at AIR-WLC2100-K9-7-0-252-0-ER??
I have a 2106 with 4 APs meshed out but only 2 active on the B/G and it seems to work OK.

Sorry, you are right, it stops at the early 7 versions, not 8. 

Get the new 1830 or 1850 AP which has an integrated WLC which allows you to manage up to 25 APs (including itself) in total. If you do get a full WLC later on, then you can join the ap's to that instead.

I also saw on the cisco site they have another new AP with this capability:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/wap581-wireless-ac-n-dual-radio-wave-2-access-point-2-5gbe-lan/index.html?wcmmode=disabled

Bear in mind you need multiple gigabit Ethernet ports to get the full speed of the radios now as they are MIMO and can get over a gigabit throughput. I have my 1830 connected into my old 3560- 8 port POE switch which is 100M  (it's all I have at home).

Just logged into a big $vendor wholesale web account and the 1832's are about $500 each.

if you do go down that route, get the latest code on them because cisco released to market to be the first wave 2 and the code was sort of usable.

The GUI is very very basic, but on the CLI you pretty much have all of the control options of the WLC. I could find all of the most common configuration and show options at least when I installed. Also fully supported on the 2800 now, btw!

[Dieselboy]

You're right Simon, I did discuss this with Cisco and the kind of said that whats in the gui is supported and anything done via the CLI is experimental / not guaranteed to work. They're releasing new features in later updates.

[deanwebb]

You're right Simon, I did discuss this with Cisco and the kind of said that whats in the gui is supported and anything done via the CLI is experimental / not guaranteed to work. They're releasing new features in later updates.

Quite a few vendors take that stance, or they'll say that only a certain set of CLI commands is supported.

[mlan]

It would be ideal if we could run the Aerohive cloud/local WLC or even the Cisco AIR-CTVM-K9 in some kind of home lab/demo license.

[deanwebb]

It would be ideal if we could run the Aerohive cloud/local WLC or even the Cisco AIR-CTVM-K9 in some kind of home lab/demo license.

This could be said about all vendors, really. Nearly all of them have no clue that there are people in the world that will learn their products if they're just available in a limited, homelab version. For niche vendors, this can be a huge thing, especially if your customers are having difficulty in finding guys that are familiar with your products. Don't just save the training for when after the guy gets hired: make it open and available, and people will find it and learn it.

[wintermute000]

As an SE face it, you'll have to get (two of) everything. Lol

[deanwebb]

As an SE face it, you'll have to get (two of) everything. Lol

Worse, I'm an architect. I may get three of everything.

"Hey everybody! Could you please connect to the Aruba test network for your Internet? Thaaaaaanks!"

[deanwebb]

OK, so I'm doing the shopping... the WLC in my home Internet seems to max out at 150Mb/sec while the wired gets close to that full gig I'm paying for. I see Aruba has a 7005 at a low-level WLC offering, but no specs on speed EDIT: I found them, they seem to have a firewall built in, claim 2Gb throughput on the wire, but does not say anything about wireless speed. Cisco's virtual WLC isn't fast enough, but the Mobility Express / 2504 can do the job.

BUUUUUT... those are all current offerings, so they come at a premium. Is there a not-too-old Cisco or Aruba WLC out there that can do gigabit wireless that's cheaper than the current offerings?